From Olivia Prunster:

Benares, otherwise known as Varanasi, is the holiest Hindu city in India. It is an ancient city vibrant and alive, where death is part of the way of life. I visited Benares mid-November 2005, where I conducted a small symbolic blessing for Linda and her family. The evening I conducted the blessing was particularly auspicious in Hindu culture, as it was the evening of a sacred festival celebrated one night every year. The ghats were illuminated and decorated with thousands of tiny clay pots filled with oil, lit as candles. The candles cascaded down the ghats and were arranged in Om designs as well as other Hindu symbols. It is tradition to place offerings into the water of the Ganges as part of a blessing ritual. My offering was a small banana-leaf cup filled with marigolds and a clay candle lit in the centre. I placed the offering into the sacred water and watched the light of its candle as it faded into darkness downstream.

"The mere utterance of the word 'Ganga' redeems a sinner, the mere sight of the Ganga amounts to a pious act, to bathe in it or to drink its water leads to the salvation of seven generations and no sooner do the ashes of the dead touch the water, than the soul is transported to Heaven."

(Quote taken from The Mahabharata, one of Hinduism's sacred religious texts)

 
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